In this 99design review we will discuss some of the pros and cons of this website for both the freelancers and clients.

On the web, there are a plethora of free graphic design possibilities.

I like using a variety of resources, including Fiverr, Canva, Stencil, Namecheap, and Tailor Brands.

However, when it comes to designing a website or blog logo – or basically anything connected to visual design that makes your blog stand out – experience is required (or an algorithm).

Expertise in graphic design is not inexpensive.

So how can you really differentiate your website or blog – to give it that additional ‘pop’ it requires – without directly engaging a professional graphic designer?

Crowdsourced design is one possibility.

It’s a means to help make high-quality graphic design more affordable to people of all budgets while also providing a thriving marketplace for freelance graphic artists.

I’ve used 99designs to create a handful of websites.

Additionally, I’ve had clients use their design competitions function.

Based on those experiences, here is my 99designs review, including how it operates and its advantages and disadvantages.

99 Designs Review: How it Works?

99designs is mainly a design contest platform.

Design competitions are when you submit a design request and hundreds to thousands of designers submit concepts for your request, which you then pick from.

The larger your budget, the more your proposal will be considered (and the more choices you get).

99designs’ bread and butter are design competitions.

You may commission a designer to create anything from a blog logo to a book cover to a custom WordPress theme.

Or you establish the budget / prize money; you get many designs over the following few days; and finally, you choose the winning design.

It’s rather simple, and it works quite well.

Several of my customers have expressed great satisfaction with the final design work they received from 99designs.

When I first wrote this article, I concentrated on 99designs’ other (and lesser-known) service — the Ready-made Logo shop.

To my mind, it was a brilliant concept for website owners and graphic artists alike.

It was a genuine storefront filled with pre-designed logos for every sector conceivable.

Each logo is fully customizable in terms of color and content to match your business/blog/website.

And virtually all of them sold for $99 — a reasonable price given the immediate credibility that comes with having a pixel-perfect logo on your website.

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How Long 99Deigns Take? 

For all design categories except web design, the contest will run for 7 days.

You may end a contest at any moment by proclaiming a winner; otherwise, the event will proceed in three stages:

Stage 1

Qualifying Round (4 days): Designers submit their work, and you offer input and choose up to six finalists to participate in the Final round.

Stage 2

Final round (3 days): You collaborate closely with finalists to refine and improve designs until you reach a point of satisfaction and choose a winner.

Stage 3

Finalization (up to 5 days): Once a winner is selected, your designer will email you the finished files.

99Designs Review: Pros & Cons 

Pros

• Here are some of the features I like about 99designs 
• user-friendly design submission procedure enables you to communicate your concept to designers in an orderly manner. Although visions are subjective, their technique enables you to get a lot higher quality output than a conventional graphic design job ad. 

• Non-designers often lack the ability to communicate a vision to a graphic designer, and I like the questions 99designs ask when defining your design brief. Numerous other crowdsourcing platforms leave your design description completely open, which may result in you not receiving what you want.

• They provide a money-back guarantee, which means you will not be charged for an outcome that does not meet your expectations.

• I like how you calculate the anticipated number of entries depending on your budget.
• You may choose to hold a blind contest, in which no one but you sees the entries.

• Also, you are paying for a fixed bid project due to the nature of a design contest. You will never pay more than the amount specified up advance. If you employ a designer on an hourly basis, you risk having a project that takes longer and costs more than anticipated. And you may wind up with a design you dislike.

• Due to the fact that they are one of the biggest markets, you might expect hundreds of bids on a single job.

Cons

1. While I like the ability to choose your own pricing for design tasks, that statement is rather deceptive due to the existence of minimums for each design category. The minimum costs are decent (albeit not the lowest available), but when I hear “set your own price,” I consider that to imply that I should be allowed to charge anything I want.

2. You are not permitted to study resumes, portfolios, or employer feedback, nor are you permitted to conduct an interview. Yes, you can see drawings that a contender has made for previous challenges, but you can’t truly get a sense of a designer’s past until you look further. This is OK if you are purchasing a single piece of art, but if you want to engage someone for continuous work beyond the contest, you should evaluate credentials and investigate individuals more extensively.

3. Everyone believes they are an expert when it comes to assessing art, but are they truly? Does liking a design imply that it will appeal to the majority of consumers? If you choose a designer based on their creative skills and professional expertise, you may end up with a superior result than if you decide on the contest winner yourself.

4. There is a school of thought that believes design competitions are where inexperienced designers go when they are unable to get stable employment. And although there may be some truth to this, who cares? You retain the right to study all submitted designs and choose one that appeals to you, even if it was produced by a junior designer.

5. Designers who enter competitions may not get compensated for their work if they do not win a large number of prizes. Of course, designers are aware of this going in, so it’s not as if it’s a surprise, and contests may be educational. That said, I wouldn’t object to 99designs hiring a few prominent designers on a tiny retainer to earn money by submitting a set number of designs each month.

6. In general, you have nothing to lose by entering your next graphic design project into a design contest. And if you do use 99designs, here are some wonderful recommendations from one of my readers and other user evaluations on how to conduct a 99designs contest.

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Conclusion 

If you want to create a strong first impression with your website or blog, you’ll require graphic design services, specifically for your website or blog logo design.

Hiring a professional designer will be costly.

99designs enables anybody to create a stunning design.

Despite a few shortcomings, I am a fan — and suggest them.

If you’re in the market for a designer, check out my guide on hiring a good designer.

If you’re looking for a low-cost designer outside of a contest format, I’ve had a great experience with both Fiverr and Upwork.

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